Sea Ranch, CA. 20 friends. 2012.

Once upon a time Alexandra and I went on a six month journey to Southeast Asia.  We traveled through Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia – mostly by land, occasionally by air or by sea.

As the end of our trip approached we were exhausted and looking forward to be home again.

Weeks roll by and memories recede, the details get foggy.  What was the name that street, that restaurant?  It sometimes feels like we never left.  Would a year be long enough? Two?

So before I forget: Indonesia was magical.

Every morning Balinese families prepare a small offering of food to show their gratitude to the deities, to placate the demons and to maintain the harmony of the universe.  Deities and demons and the unknown powers of the cosmos feel very real in Bali, no matter how doubtful one may be.

In Jogjakarta the call to prayer washed over the city several times a day, the most powerful wave in the evening – one voice became two, became three, became four, to the point where they were impossible to distinguish and sounded as one.  And on Fridays the gang outside the local mosque was clogged with the flip flops of worshiping neighbors and their restless children who would burst through the doors into the afternoon sun as soon as they were released from the grips of responsibility, like water from a dam, often barefoot in their haste.

Our days were so beautiful and warm and lighthearted.

Above are couple more from Malaysia.  The resident cat at our guesthouse in Malacca was a funny guy.  Missing one of his hind paws, he sort of hobbled around on 3 legs plus a stump, always on a mission to find the sun for his afternoon naps.  He wasn’t all that friendly but slept like a rock and snapping his photo in the warm afternoon light was a daily occurrence.  In the one above he was literally smack in the middle of the upstairs balcony, oblivious to the guests stepping over him and to the loudly creaking floor boards which announced everyone’s entrance and exit.

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Happy to be home but still feeling occasional pangs of longing for SE Asia, we’re back in San Francisco. It’s sometimes hard to believe we spent the last 6 months on the other side of the world traveling through countries that in many respects could be considered the polar opposite of the U.S.A.  I still have to finish editing and posting shots from Indonesia and will hopefully have some newer stuff to share as well.  Below are a couple shots from the eve of our departure, back in October, that I discovered on  an unused memory card.

Stay tuned.  The ride doesn’t end here.